December 12, 2004 – Chris Jeffries and Milaine Theriault battled through thick, heavy snow to claim gold at the Haywood Canada Cup in Foret Montmorency, Quebec on Saturday, December 11.

The event, loaded with the countries top skiers not at the World Cup, kicked-off the five-race qualifying event, which will ultimately determine who will wear the maple leaf at the World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany in February.

Saturday’s race, which saw Canada’s elite skiers fight their way through 20 metres of freshly fallen snow, featured the men’s 10 kilometre and women’s five kilometre classic events.

“Today was a great start to the week,” said Theriault of St. Quentin, N.B., who finished the five kilometre race in a time of 19 minutes 17 seconds. “I didn’t go out hard today because I would have sunk into the snow, but I just skied as fast as I could, as lightly as I could, and it gave me a first-place result.”

Theriault, a three-time Olympian, was joined on top of the podium by Chris Jeffries of Chelsea, Que. The 26-year-old crossed the finish line in a time of 33:57:00.

“I started out a bit conservatively, then slowly increased my speed to finish the race with a 15 second lead,” said Jeffries, who will be looking for top-35 results in World Cup racing in the new year. “You really had to ski technically sound today because of all the snow, and I just worked at staying smooth so I wouldn’t tire out easily.”

Joining Theriault on the women’s podium was up-and-coming Canadian skier Dasha Gaiazova, who crossed the finish line just 10 seconds behind Theriault at 19:27:6. Gaiazova of Montreal, who will turn 21 at the end of the month, was followed by Amanda Ammar of Edmonton who rounded out the top three after posting a time of 19:49:5.

On the men’s side, Devan Kershaw, of Sudbury Ont., who took the lead early on in the race, finished the race in second at 34:13:0 with Drew Goldsack of Red Deer Alta., taking third at 34:39:2.

The mix of senior and junior athletes on the podium is showcasing the broad talent pool of cross-country skiers in the country, that will ultimately form a strong World Championship squad.

“We’ve got some very good young skiers competing with our more seasoned athletes – it is nice to see the younger skiers come up and nip at their heels,” said Cavaliere, who plans to have the Canadian team chosen after the fifth race is held on December 18. “I think we are starting to see some nice results, and are looking forward to creating more competition at the elite level.”

The Haywood Canada Cup continues on Sunday with the 15- and 30-kilometre races in Foret Montmorency, Que.

Cross Country Canada is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada. Its 45,000 members are athletes, coaches and officials, including members of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team and Canadian Disabled Cross-Country Ski Team. Cross-country skiing is Canada’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually.